Another cold winter night, went to the open session at square state. I was kind of late. Joe and Garrett were already there as were several others. And it would get more and more crowded. I hid in the tiny section almost the whole night. And I basically tried kickflip 50s the entire time and only got close to landing it a couple times. I did get a few hurricanes on the little qp and several blunt to axle stalls which are rare for me. At the end of the session I kickflipped up the euro and did a crook on the bump to ledge. I had seen Garrett do his smooth ripping, Joe hardflipped the sk8 mafia board up the euro. Was going seeing Denver ripper Daryl. Darin and Justin were there. Will showed and did some tails on the bank to curb. All in all a weird session. I wish I didn’t get overwhelmed by crowds so easily.

(setup 7/10 null 20 years 8.5/14.25, null grip, thunder hollow light 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl, new balance numeric 440v2 wide brown half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro insole)
(pain level 7/10)

Another winter night out in the garage. I made it over 10 days on my 8.3 slappy low setup before a switch. I stuck with my 8.5 thunder setup tonight and loved it. Got a few kickflips in a row, a lot of not close nollie flips, took too long to halfcab flip, quick b/s flip, a couple heelflips in a row that felt so great, a couple meh treflips, remotely close to a GleNBD back heel.

(setup null 20 years 8.5/14.25, null grip, thunder hollow light 149 bones medium bushings, 52mm spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl, new balance numeric 574 vulc half 272 insole)
(pain level 3/10)

Went out to the garage on a cold night, skated flat for about 45 minutes. Basically started with nollie flip attempts since I have a bet going with Joe. A couple were close, but not both feet on close. I kind of switched around boards since I had another in the garage. 8.5/14.25 with thunders and I could kickflip infinitely better so I mostly stuck to it. I did a few other basics. Randomly tried 3 shove which I haven’t done in forever and got one in a few tries.

(setups 8.3 with slappy lows, 8.5 with thunders and 440s)
(pain level 6/10)

On a cold night I stared at the combo for Square State through my phone magnifier and still couldn’t get it right. Man my close vision is gone. We eventually got in and a solid crew accumulated and skated for a few hours. Bratcher, Dave, Cass, Jesse and me. It’s nice warming up without the youth because we can just dork around in the middle at a slow speed. Hard to remember what others were doing to warm up. I was happy to get a couple of manuals on the little pad, even a nose manual. Crooks on the upper part never worked though. Other things I remember early on. Jesse pop shove and varial flip up the euro, slappy noseslide the upper part of the ledge. He would go on to eventually ollie over the table top. Cass was skating my older setup (that I am not at all tempted by I swear) and had some switch and first ever nollie front 50 on the curb, back 180 up the euro, front nose the upper part of the ledge. At some point Bratcher started filming the little downhill qp session. jack was doing alley oop grinds and cool ollies/180s out of it. Dave fakie crooked the whole thing, front 5-0’d it, back 50 up it after back 50 the qp with speed. I did a alley oop fakie frontside grind that took too long. Oh yeah I had back 50’d it too then came back and ollied up the 3 stair off a kicker which Cass had done 2nd try. Dave had all kinds of amazing lines going. Kickflips up the euro, boardslides the big qp, front 50 the bump to ledge, switch ollie up the euro, sw 180 up it, ollie the pyramid, etc. I don’t even know, it was endless, he was shredding. I had done some kickflips on the bank under the curb, a very bad slow treflip, I guess some stuff that was okay for me. Not the best session, not the worst. At the end a session on the curb ensued. Jack got back 5-0s, shove 50, he looked good. I got nollie tail 270 shove and nosegrind 180. Couldn’t get a kick 50 to save my life. Dave had a couple really good back tails, switch crooks, quick up to 50 the upper part. Hit his knee on a ledge as he was trying to manual across the stairs from bank to bank. This is mostly what I remember, it was a fun session.

(setup 3/10 null keyhole2 8.3, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5 low profile, spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12, half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro)
(pain level 4/10)

Left my house after breakfast thinking it was in the mid 30s for some reason, but it was actually in the lower 20s. I started at the old meet up curb and did a couple slappy crooks which felt good. Then I went down to the flagstone ledge and started pretty well there too. Flatground started okay as did ledge tricks until I got to the dreaded front 50. I think I got heelflip first try then could not do another to save my life. Backside I got pretty far into my short list of tricks. Frontside I randomly tried some regular front noseslides which I technically landed, but Jason or Cass would not be proud. Front 50s I really really tried and could not even get into it. It was so frustrating. Even after some hopefully good karma when calling out a homeless guy attempting to steal a bike. Somehow I allowed myself to move on. Ended up at the business building. Had some fun boardslides on the long curb after shoves. Then randomly tried to front 50 the downhill ledge which I had never 50’d before because of the weird downhill approach. Only this time time I managed to front 50 it a few times. Makes zero sense. Granted they were very slow, oh well. I couldn’t noseslide the taller ledge after though. Some cops had parked nearby so I moved on. Ended up at Baker ledge which had a car next to the manny pad, but the ledge was clear. I was tired and just wanted to do 5 ledge tricks and go home. But somehow my legs worked and I skated it better than expected. I got noseslide, noseslide to fakie, switch front nose, halfcab nose, front nose to fakie, front board flop out, super slow front 50, super slow accidental front 5-0, switch noseslide, switch nose to fakie. Had tried a bunch of nollie flips, which weren’t close. Kind of a weird session, some real lows, some okay highs. I guess all of which should be considered a win considering it was 23 degrees.

(setup 3/10 null keyhole2 8.3, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5 low profile, spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12, half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro)
(pain level 4/10)

On lunch break I went across the street for some flatground and it was not good. The new 440s felt like absolute garbage, I couldn’t flick or feel my board well. Kickflips worked and somehow I was 2/2 on halfcab flips. Other than one line where I did 4 tricks in a row it was terrible. I got fakie flip, halfcab flip, heelflip, bs flip. All done slow and bad. I made myself do a lot of kickflips to try and break in the shoes. Couldn’t commit to treflip or nollie flip. New shoes are the worst. 2024 Glen would be changing my setup after this session.

(setup 2/10 null keyhole2 8.3, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5 low profile, spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 wide brown size 12, half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro)
(pain level 4/10)

Before sunset went over to the school not wanting to pop much. Was able to get quite a few backside slappies which I haven’t been able to do lately so that was nice. Slappy crooks both ways, some tiny switch crook jibs. May have hucked a little, but nothing really. Oh yeah, I had new brown 440s.

(setup 5/10 null keyhole2 8.3, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5 low profile, spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 wide brown size 12, half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro)
(pain level 7/10)

After some chilling and football with Ollie I eventually ended up on campus. It was nice in the sun when the wind wasn’t kicking, which was rare. I felt like I wouldn’t have much drive as I started cruising around looking for a spot inspiring of a warm up. I ended up at the two stair with a slight bank into it and it served me well. After some initial no pop nose stalls, tail stall, pivots I started hucking. Was hyped to get front crook to fakie and kickflip axle stall pretty quick. Then I started hucking kickflip nose stall which I’ve never really done. I’ve had some that flop off, but never posted up. They were hard, but man when I got one I was so hyped. After this went around the corner to the tall engineering ledge and did a line of slow heelflip then barely a noseslide. Can’t believe I 50’d it back in my 20s. Then down to the narrow bank where I took way too long to do a kickflip to fakie. Then I did a fun line of ollie to fakie, switch 180 up the curb across the street and b/s flip on a micro hip. Up to the little hill spot I made myself do 5 tricks “into the hill”. Nollie front 180, pop shove, halfcab flip took too long, a really bad treflip that still made me happy, fakie shove. Did a front axle on a nearby banked ledge and the wind kicked in fierce and the temp dropped so I left. Fun first session of the year.

(setup 7/10 null keyhole2 8.3, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5 low profile, spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12, half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro)
(pain level 4/10)

Last day of 2024! The sun was out, but somehow it felt way colder than 34 degrees. I struggled pretty bad this session. Was able to front 50 the black ledge first try, but struggled with a slow one on the ledge into the bank. Also took too many tries to do a noseslide to fakie on the bank to ledge. Darin rattled off quartapotty tricks. Cass had nice front noseslides on the black ledge. Before the sun set it was quite cold and just Cass and I remaining. We skated the bank to curb. Cass learned blunt to fakie and blunt to pivot. I took forever to do a line of hurricane then front 50 the ledge into the bank. Followed it up with a crooks on the black ledge at least. I also got an axle stall to rock ‘n roll which felt cool.

(setup 4/10 null keyhole2 8.3, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5 low profile, spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12, half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro)
(pain level 5/10)

On a cold night I went out to the garage still feeling kind of sore, but wanting to huck some flippers. I avoided any form of regular kickflip because my knee was extra sore. I had done some shoves as warmups then tried several switch flips. Very few of which were even remotely close. Then went in on halfcab heel which took a long time to get one. I would go on to get 3 of them, the second one being the only decent one. Hucked nollie varial heel after that, some of which felt quite close, but never got both feet on it. Might have hucked more, but I don’t remember. Felt good to get the hc heels.

(setup 7/10 null keyhole2 8.3, jessup ultragrip, slappy 8.5 low profile, spitfire f4 99a orange/black swirl classic shape, new balance numeric 440v2 wide navy size 12, half 574 vulc insole and currex runpro)
(pain level 5/10)